• Judicial conflict: the last trip of Leopoldo María Panero Blanc
  • Biographical series 'The Panero'; a spanish drama, now in english
  • Obituary: 'Don't abandon me, don't abandon me!'

Boxes with memories, hundreds of unpublished books and manuscripts make up the legacy left by Leopoldo María Panero at the Rey Juan Carlos I Hospital in Las Palmas, where he died in 2014 and where his ashes remained waiting for the judge to authorize the return to his Astorga (León ) natal, which will occur this month.

It will be on August 22, five and a half years after his death suddenly at dawn in March 2014, when this author, an exponent of transgressive poetry, returns to his homeland to receive burial in the same family pantheon in which his father, Leopoldo Panero, and his younger brother, 'Michi' Panero, rest.

In an interview with Efe, his cousin, Charo Alonso Panero, described the "unpleasant judicial journey" that his family has spent in order to collect the ashes of Leopoldo María Panero, who were waiting in a warehouse of the psychiatric hospital that was his home during his Last 19 years.

Leopoldo María Panero died at dawn and it was the poet's editor who notified the family after receiving a call from the hospital.

"I do not know why they did not notify us directly knowing that we were their family," he lamented, while recalling that when they arrived at the funeral home they found "a coffin in which someone secretly placed a Republican flag" , and the urn with the ashes.

No one asked the family if Leopoldo María wanted to be cremated and they also did not give their ashes and personal belongings to their cousins ​​because the poet had never specified what to do with his remains and his property in case of death, said Charo Alonso Panero.

"The sanitarium's social worker told us that we had to testify that we were family and wait for the judge to decide who were the legal heirs of Leopoldo María. I understand that this is done when we talk about household goods, the bank's current account or the rights to his work, but not to collect the ashes; we did not understand that they had value for those who are not familiar, "he has questioned.

It was not until last year when the judge appointed legitimate heirs to his four cousins, including Charo Alonso Panero, who at the time of hearing the decision traveled to Las Palmas to collect his cousin's belongings.

"A disease that I suffered caused this process to be delayed but in April of this year I traveled to the hospital to collect my cousin's ashes and his memories. In the sanitarium depot I found hundreds of books , recognitions and awards he received throughout his life, typewriters and documents with unpublished texts, "he recalled.

The poet's cousin has assured that she will study and classify those texts for later, if appropriate, edit them in a book, and that she will donate the legacy of Leopoldo María Panero to the Association of Friends Casa Panero de Astorga, which will become a museum the year that is coming

Charo Alonso Panero says he is "very happy and satisfied" to be able to bury his cousin in a ceremony that will be held on August 22 at 12:00 in the church of Santa Marta de Astorga.

After the funeral, at 8:30 p.m., an act of homage to the poet will be held at Casa Panero in Astorga , in which several writers and musicians will participate, as well as relatives and neighbors of the town.

The intention is to allow the writer "finally rest in peace with his family" while remembering the life and work of a person who "lived to write, with poetry as the only escape route" and had to endure Derogatory qualifiers as "damn poet" and "crazy" of a country that "unfortunately does not consider culture important."

"My cousin was not crazy, he was sick, which is different. He developed a schizophrenia after his time in prison, a disease that was always badly taken and there was the mistake. Leopoldo María was a terribly intelligent person and it was he who wanted to control his illness, he knew that it was better to live with care and care, "he said.

Leopoldo María Panero "has very hard poems," but "because he wrote them through his thoughts and life so terrible he could have in that sanatorium," added his cousin.

Even so, the poet always tried to live in the most pleasant way possible. "He was very positive and simple. He was a genius. And most importantly, in his own way, he was happy."

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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